Nov. 13, 2013

Written by

City People writer

PROFILE

Name: Dr. Lenna Young, vice president of academic affairs at Greenville Tech Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychology/guidance and counseling from Newberry College; master’s in education from University of Central Florida; Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from Clemson University Family: Husband, Lance

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Dr. Lenna Young’s varied career has been more the result of embracing life’s changes than meticulously planning each step.

Young, who is vice president of academic affairs at Greenville Tech, has worked as a budget analyst for the U.S. Special Operations Command and as a teacher and program director for military children in the United States and Europe.

Much of her career path has been “serendipitous,” says Young, who moved frequently with her husband, Lance, a now-retired Air Force officer.

“I would like to say that I did a lot of career planning and that being here is the result of some great plan I had a long time ago, but an HR (human resources) officer a long time ago kind of chided me and said I needed to be more purposeful,” Young says. “And I said, ‘When your husband is moved every couple of years, it’s kind of difficult to be purposeful.”

Young, a native of Lexington, got her bachelor’s degree in psychology, but her mother, an accountant, insisted that she build a foundation of business classes into her course of study. It turned out to be good advice because, through all of the military relocations, Young was able to find jobs in business-related fields.

But when her husband was transferred to Stuttgart, Germany, Young found job openings in education through the military.

She never expected to work in early childhood education, but it turned out to be a good fit, she says.

Ten years ago, the Youngs moved to the Upstate, where Lance took a job as commander of the Air Force ROTC at Clemson. Young went to work on her Ph.D. in Clemson, and before long was an adjunct faculty member in the early childhood development program at Tri-County Tech.

She came to Greenville Tech in 2009 as dean of business and public service, and earlier this year was named vice president of academic affairs.

While much of her career has been centered on early childhood education, Young says she’s able to bring more skills from that arena into a college setting than you might expect.

“With early childhood, particularly now, when we look at what we know about how children learn, we very much look at an individual approach to education,” she says. “And whether you’re talking about helping children develop, or whether you’re talking about leading an organization, or whether you’re talking about selecting a curriculum, it is very individual.”

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The most important thing, Young says, is to be “purposeful” and “intentional,” no matter what the educational setting.

“They say everything you need to know you learned in kindergarten. I would rephrase: ‘Everything you need to know you could have learned by being an early childhood teacher.’ ”

As her title suggests, Young’s position at Greenville Tech involves overseeing issues related to academics.

“That could include anything from instructors that are hired to teach, to what we select to teach, to the accreditations that go with all of that, to our students’ success rate, to how we support our students as they succeed at the college. It is just really the whole ball of wax.”

Seeing students graduate is the most rewarding part of the job for Young. As a dean, she sits on the stage and watches each student come up to receive his or her diploma.

“You’re the first one to see students’ faces as they approach the stage to receive their degrees. And when they hear their name called, it’s like turning a flashlight on. It’s just magic,” Young says. “Their eyes sparkle, you can see their lips part because they’re smiling. I just couldn’t be happier. ... They walk with pride, and you know that you were a part of that, you know that you’re a part of them achieving their human potentiality, and you also know that you’re helping fulfill the mission for what the taxpayers pay us to do.”

While her own path has been a bit circuitous, and Young says she wouldn’t advise students to imitate her trajectory, it can be helpful to see that careers happen in many ways.

“I think if there were any lesson in that for students it’s that sometimes you just have to work hard at the jobs that are in front of you,” she says, “and sometimes opportunities do come your way, and you’ve got to be willing to then rise to the occasion and put yourself out there.”